If you know of a particularly large tree, it might be notable statewide.
The Maine Forest Service keeps a registry of champion large trees across the state, and accepts resident nominations.
The program was started in 1967 under then-state forester Austin Wilkins and currently lists more than 140 trees across 138 species. Every few years, an updated publication lists all the registry’s trees; the most recent is from 2020 and a new version should be released later this year.
The registry is also an opportunity for public involvement and connection to trees, coordinator Jan Ames Santerre said.
“Trees just capture people’s imagination when they attain large size,” she said.
Pine, spruce, walnut, maple, oak, elm, birch and other large trees are well-represented, but the program also includes some plants that most often grow as shrubs, like shadbush and juniper.
The minimum requirement is a diameter of four inches at breast height, or 54 inches off the ground.
The forest service then gives the tree a score calculated from its trunk circumference, height, and the spread of its crown. You can also learn online how to measure a tree.
After a nomination is submitted, one of the service’s 11 district foresters will verify the measurements to be compared with the other entries on the registry. The service will let the submitter know in a few months where the tree stands on the list.
Plenty of the trees on the registry grow in human environments, like cemeteries or city parks, and have historical records around their plantings. A European Linden in Phippsburg, for example, was planted in 1776, shortly after the country was formed.
The tallest tree in the most recent registry, a 142-foot tall tulip tree, grows in Bath. A black oak in Sumner had the largest trunk circumference that year — 288 inches.
“On a more human side of it, trees have lives that extend far beyond our human life,” Santerre said. “People think about the things that a tree might have seen or experienced that might have been far beyond our lifetimes.”
Large trees have interesting stories out in the woods, too. Some develop their own little ecosystems providing unique habitats, housing specific varieties of lichen and species of birds.
Big trees in the woods also make a visitor think about what forests used to look like.
A big tree isn’t necessarily an old one, though. Species grow at different speeds. A small hemlock could be decades old, while quaking aspens grow quite large in 50-100 years.
